Naruto Fanfic: Crimson Flash
by SarthakBikramPanta
Summary: In the Anime, Naruto had Kushina's personality and Minato's appearance. what if it were the other way around? And with War at Konoha's doorsteps...Can our hero fall victim to the war...or forge his own legend?
1. The Beggining

**Naruto Fanfic: The Crimson Flash**

Summary: In the anime, Naruto had Minato's looks and Kushina's attitude. What if it was the other way around? Growing up in a time period where war is near the doorsteps, will Naruto accept his heritage and forge his own legend?

Chapter 1: The Prodigy

Inquisitive violet eyes scanned over the area as the five year old lumbered over to the Uchiha Clan Compound. The guards in the compound stopped him.

"Halt, what is your business here?" The first uchiha guard asked with his eyes narrowed.

The red head breathed in calmly as he said "Shishui-sensei wanted to meet me here."

"And why would such a venerable person as Shishui want to meet _you?"_ The Uchiha continued with a snarl coming out in the end. The red head was no fool. He knew the guard was referring to his own status as Jinchuriki. Oh, you're surprised that he knows the secret. Well considering they all called him 'Fox Brat' and 'Demon' it was really not too much hard to piece together. The Red head was cut off from his internal ramblings from a familiar voice.

"Now, now guys there is no need to use that tone with my student."

The red head looked upwards to see his sensei, Shishui casually walking towards the guards and himself with a small smile on his face. The uchiha guard looked at Shishui before narrowing his eyes at the red head. He huffed and nodded. Shishui shrugged.

"Naruto, how about we go to train?" Shishui asked with a light jovial tone.

"Yes!" Naruto exclaimed as Shishui simply touched Naruto and the two disappeared.

Reappearing somewhere later in a training area Shishui looked at his student and asked "Did you complete the Tree Walking exercise like I told you?"

"Yes, it was pretty hard at first due to my big chakra reserves for a five year old but in the end I managed to do it." Naruto said stoically.

Shishui nodded as he said "Fine now I want you to run across the training ground ten times within five minutes or no ramen for lunch."

Naruto was immediately off and running. Only ten seconds late from the assigned time Shishui smiled and ruffled his red hair. "Pretty good. Last time we did that you were late by twenty six seconds. A huge improvement. But you can do much better."

Naruto nodded as he panted from slight exhaustion. Shishui looked at his unofficial student before perking up as he felt a chakra signature enter the area. He looked at Naruto who had also perked up. Narrowing his eyes slightly Shishui snapped his head around to see Uchiha Itachi coming towards him.

"Itachi, what's up?" He asked jovially masking his surprise at Naruto's sensory perception.

Itachi looked at Shishui once and then at Naruto once again. "I hope I am not doing anything wrong by intruding."

Shishui laughed as he said "Of course not, I was just starting Naruto's training for the day!"

Itachi nodded as he said "Shishui, the ANBU headquarters are calling."

Shishui's expression immediately became serious as he looked at Naruto and from his pouch took out a scroll and gave it to Naruto. "I will not be here for a week. By the end of the week when I return I expect you to learn the technique written in that scroll."

Naruto eagerly took the scroll as he looked at his sensei and nodded. Itachi disappeared in a murder of crows as Shishui simply disappeared without trace.

Naruto unfurled the scroll as he read the technique's name.

 _Katon: Goukyaku no Jutsu_ (Fireball Jutsu)

 _One of the most basic Fire techniques after the_ _ **Katon: Kasai Nagare (**_ _Fire Release: Fire Stream) technique. But if utilized correctly this technique can be deadly and fatal. Its chakra input requires approximately 12 hectares of chakra and its hand seal sequence is snake-ram-Monkey-Boar-Horse-Tiger. It's key component is saturating the lungs with chakra and then converting it tol fire as soon as it escapes the lips._

Naruto eagerly went through the hand seals in the scroll as he saturated his lungs with chakra and let it out of his mouth. What came out was a small ball of fire the size of a football. Naruto started to cough as he wiped the soot of his mouth.

"This is going to take a while. I think Fire Release is not my affinity….." Naruto muttered as he went through the hand seals again and repeated the process. While the fireball that came out was slightly bigger than before it was nowhere near the perfect fireball that the technique required.

X.X.X.X

A day later Naruto was still going through the hand seals. His fireball had roughly gained half of the size the fireball had to take. He still had some ways to go with the technique. He was sitting down next to a tree drinking water when he heard a voice. "You know it's pretty impressive when you come across a five year old who can use the _Goukyaku_ jutsu."

Naruto looked towards his right to see a Konoha jonin with gravity defying spiky grey hair and a mask that showed only his left eye as the right eye was covered by the headband. Naruto's eyes twitched. _What kind of man dresses like that…_

"My name is Hatake Kakashi. Nice to meet you." The man introduced. Naruto had heard of this man. One of the strongest shinobi in the village. Along with Sandaime, Senju Tsunade, Jiraiya, Shishui, Itachi, this man was one of the few Kage level shinobi in the village. Naruto could simply feel this man's chakra pressure as he activated and deactivated his chakra sensory perception.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. It's nice to meet you as well." He introduced himself.

The man eye-smiled as he said "You're quite infamous around these parts aren't you?"

"Well it's only because of the villager's prejudice against me for some reason."

"A pity." Kakashi said as he looked at Naruto again and said "Now where was I? Ah, yes seeing you practice the _Goukyaku Jutsu_ till it's half size. Very very impressive for a five year old."

Naruto looked at jonin in front of him and asked "Do you know any tips I could use to perfect the technique. I really think I have an affinity that repels fire."

Kakashi chuckled. " _Knowing his father, that's not unlikely."_ "Here's an advice. Thin the chakra before expelling the technique. Belive me it works."

Naruto pondered over the words. Thinning out the chakra…of course! The chakra if thinned would be able to maintain consistently and allow chakra to be used in a beneficial way while saving it and not harming the Chakra System of the body!

Naruto sat upright as he went through the hand seals in genin level speed as he did the technique.

Inhaling air…saturating the lungs and windpipe with chakra while storing chakra in the lungs….bringing it up towards the mouth while using the friction generated to turn it to fire…..compress the chakra into a thin line….and then expel!

A huge fireball erupted from Naruto's mouth as the training post in front of his was charred beyond recognition. Naruto looked at it in awe as he excitedly hugged Kakashi repeatedly saying 'thank you'. Kakashi laughed softly as he said "Just because the majority of the village hates you doesn't mean everyone does Naruto. You need only ask."

Naruto blinked once, twice before slowly nodding. Kakashi eye smiled again before saying "Practice the technique. I am sure Shishui will be surprised when he returns. See you around Naruto. If you ever need help. Just come find me."

Kakashi then disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Naruto looked at the spot Kakashi had been before starting to practice the technique once again.

X.X.X

 _2 years later_

 _A day before the Uchiha Massacre_

Uzumaki Naruto was bored. He had been enrolled into the Academy about a month ago and he had high expectations. Imagine his surprise when he learned that all that they were going to learn in the first year was basic chakra theory and history which he already knew. Naruto simply stared out of the window while a random chunin teacher droned on. The only sensei he really liked in the academy was Umino Iruka and that was because he treated him fairly and he had interesting classes to teach.

The dismissal bell rang out as Naruto used the window beside him to exit the academy. One month into the academy, he along with Itachi's younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke were already known as prodigies. Naruto hated it. The word prodigy was being thrown around it seemed. It left quite the sour taste in his mouth. He was a prodigy because he did not waste years in useless childish endeavors and instead trained like a shinobi should. From what he had seen Itachi had taught Sasuke well but still, using the word prodigy so easily…well like he said, it left a sour taste in his mouth.

Naruto raced past all of the buildings as he leapt from building to building towards his training ground where Shishui should have been waiting for him. Naruto arrived early as he settled down and sat against the wooden post.

He must have dozed off sometime later as when Naruto opened his eyes the sky was slowly darkening. And yet Shishui was still not here. Narrowing his eyes Naruto put his right hand in the Seal of the Confrontation (Half Ram) as he activated his sensory perception.

Naruto scanned over the business District and uchiha compound and found that Shishui was nowhere to be found there. Slowly though, Naruto found him in the forest towards the north of Konoha. Naruto frowned. Shishui's chakra was fluctuating and he was running towards the Naka River Cliff. He was being pursued by ten ANBU level shinobi if their chakra were any means to follow.

Standing up, Naruto took off in pursuit of his sensei. After reaching the Northern Forest Naruto peered around but before he could do anything it was already too late. An ANBU appeared as he drew his tanto and with an uppercut, cut out Naruto's left eye. Naruto stumbled back as he groaned in pain and immediately felt his hand clamp over his left eye socket where warm red blood was flowing about. Naruto's right eye looked at the ANBU and immediately saw that this was no ANBu under the command of the Sandaime. He had a term called 'Ne' written on his mask and did not have the traditional ANBU tattoo. Naruto gulped as he stood up shakily ignoring the blazing pain in his left socket.

He flipped through some hand seals as he said " **Katon: Goukyaku no Jutsu!"**

A huge roaring fireball erupted from Naruto's mouth as they sped towards the ANBU. The ANBU simply evaded the attack and from his rear tried to slash at Naruto again. Naruto jumped backwards as he asked "Why are you fighting a fellow Konoha shinobi?"

"You are too near and you will know too much. I am simply eliminating a future threat to Danzo-sama." The ANBU said emotionlessly.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as he put his hand on his Kunai pouch and took out a kunai ready to do anything. The ANBu watched him silently before racing towards the red head. Naruto clashed his kunai with his opponent's tanto and could easily feel himself being overwhelmed. Searching for a way out his eyes wavered to a log as Naruto substituted himself with it. The tanto of the ANBU cut right through it. Without wasting second Naruto had thrown a barrage of shuriken and kunai towards the ANBU. The ANBU put his hand on the snake seal and slammed his hand on the ground.

" **Doton: Doryuheki!"** (Earth Release: Earth Wall)

A huge earth wall rose from the earth as it stopped the projectile weapons from drawing blood. "You are pretty good for a kid. You are actually making me give in an effort." The ANBU said pretty impressed if the impressed tone was anything to go by.

Naruto looked at the ANBU while trying desperately to stop the blood flow coming from his left eye. He put his hands in a cross shape as he said " **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"** (Shadow Clone Jutsu)

Four clones popped into existence as each went into their own set of hand seals.

" **Katon: Goukyaku no Jutsu!"** (Fireball Jutsu)

" **Futon: Daitoppa!"** (Wind Style: Great Breakthrough)

" **Ninpo: Kunai Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"** (Ninja Art: Kunai Shadow Clones)

" **Ninpo: Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."** (Ninja Art: Shuriken Shadow Clones)

" **Ninpo: Kawarimi no Jutsu!"** (Ninja Art: Replacement)

The last one was the original himself as Naruto ran away from the impending explosion. True enough a huge explosion took place merely second later which made Naruto a little wobbly in his legs. The ANBU had no chance of escape. He had died. It was no surprise really. From what Naruto could tell he was only a mid chunin level ninja. Still, for him to have defeated an ANBU nonetheless…..Naruto grew still as he remembered one crucial fact. That ANBU he just killed…he was his first kill.

Naruto's stomach grew rumbly as Naruto puked in the corner. Naruto could almost see the horrified expression of the ANBU before his death. His body started to shiver as Naruto tried to calm himself. Slight apparitions of red chakra protruded from himself as they threatened to let loose.

At the last moment he gathered himself. There was still a task at hand and his eye still needed treatment. It was time to move, and drown in anguish later. Naruto wiped his face as he started to traverse the forest searching for Shishui. He found him by the Naka River Cliff.

When Naruto reached there he saw the back turned form of Shishui who was looking towards the river down below the cliff.

"Naruto…." He heard softly as Shishui turned around. Naruto stumbled backwards as he saw the form of his sensei.

His left eye was missing with blood spurting out and in from his chest with a deep gash across his torso. Blood was pretty much everywhere.

Shishui noticed the lack of one eye in his student as well and asked "What happened Naruto?"

"What happened to me? What happened to you?" Naruto retorted as he tried to think of a logical answer for all of the things that were going on.

"I was attacked."

"Why?"

"Since the Kyuubi attack seven years ago, dissatisfaction amongst the villagers and Uchihas grew. Everyone that night swore that they saw a sharingan pattern in the eyes of the Kyubi and it was a well-known fact that the Kyubi could be controlled by a sharingan. So they grew suspicious ofUchiha. After years of suspicion the Uchiha's snapped. They planned a coup de teat against the village to wrest control. I along with Itachi acted as a double agent for the village against the Uchiha to stop an impending Civil war." Shishui slowly explained as horror dawned on Naruto's face.

"No! The Uchiha clan are honored amongst the villagers, especially so with the civilians!" Naruto exclaimed.

Shishui laughed bitterly. "If only so…"

"What did you do to get into this condition then…..was it the Uchiha….did they find out of you being a double agent?"

"No. They planned to have the coup tomorrow. So I was dispatched by the Sandaime to use this….." Shishui said as his sharingan in his right eye slowly morphed into a four pointed shuriken. "This Naruto, is the Mangekyo Sharingan. Said to awaken when an Uchiha kills his best friend, but in reality awakens any time when a feeling of extreme loss comes over the user. My special technique with my mangekyo is the **Kotomatsukami** which allows to control someone or a group of people. I was to use this technique to delay the coup, but Danzo…he said that the plan would fail and robbed me of my left sharingan. He then sent these assassins under his control to kill me."

"Whose….Whose Danzo?" Naruto asked shakily.

"An elder of the village. He holds a good amount of power over the village having his own ANBU faction called ROOT. He believes in a pure military ideals and if not for the sandaime, right now you would be a weapon for the village considering the beast that you contain." Shishui answered softly as Naruto shuddered.

"Why are we talking about this?" Naruto asked in anguish. "We need you to get to a hospital, and quick!"

"Don't bother, Naruto…I am already dead….I can feel my life draining away from me….." Shishui laughed bitterly.

"No! I refuse to believe it!" Naruto said as he shook his head furiously. But suddenly Shishui was grabbing him by his shoulders. "Naruto you must do this one favor for me."

"What?" Naruto asked shakily.

"Take my sharingan. It would be an honor for me to continue to see the world through your eyes. And it would also deprive of Danzo getting his hands on my sharingan. I believe it will be in good hands with you." Shishui said softly.

Naruto stepped back as he said "I cannot accept that Shishui! Come on let's get you healed!"

"Promise me! Promise me Uzumaki Naruto that you will follow through with my last wish!" Shishui cut in a steely voice as a tear escaped from his remaining eye.

Naruto's remaining eye also shed some tears as he shakily said "Ye…Yes."

Shishui smiled briefly before he said "Itachi, why don't you do the honors?"

Naruto' head snapped upwards as Itachi suddenly appeared in a murder of crows with a solemn expression on his face. "I will, my dear friend."

Shishui nodded as Itachi's hands erupted green. Using the ANBU medical ninjutsu that he knew Itachi painlessly removed Shishui's remaining eye and placed them in Naruto's left eye socket. Naruto's eyes twitched as Naruto slowly opened his left eye again. He looked at Shishui and from his left eye could easily see his chakra network. Shishui barely had any chakra left at all.

Shishui smiled as he said "Itachi….carry one the legacy of the Uchiha Clan will you? Naruto, try not to be stoic all the time. And remember both of you…I love you both as my own little brothers."

Shishui started to steps backwards towards the cliff as Naruto struggled against Itachi's grasp. Just before Shishui fell Naruto released himself from Itachi and ran forward. But it was too late. Shishui was dead.

Dead.

Naruto's eyes blazed in anger as he turned towards Itachi. "Why didn't you save him! You of all people could Itachi! That would have been the correct choice to have done!"

Itachi's soft voice came towards him as a reply. "People live their lives bound by what they accept as correct and true. That's how they define "reality". But what does it mean to be "correct" or "true"? Merely vague concepts ... their "reality" may all be a mirage. Can we consider them to simply be living in their own world, shaped by their beliefs?"

Naruto looked upwards towards Itachi's face and saw it streaming with tears. Itachi's own sharingan was now a triple pointed shuriken shape. Naruto and Itachi stood in silence as they slowly hugged each other for their fallen brother.

Itachi slowly let go of Naruto and said "I have to go."

"Where?"

"To eliminate my clan."

"I….see….."

"I will leave only my brother alive. Please…take care of him….after all you both are my brothers…." Itachi said softly before disappearing into a cluster of crows.

Naruto's eyes looked upwards towards the sky as his normal violet eye and his new sharingan eye pierced the skies. He fell down unconscious.

X.X.X

Naruto blinked once, twice before he fully opened his eyes. He was greeted by the sight of his surrogate grandfather, the sandaime Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Naruto-kun, how are you?"

"Jiji…..the uchiha clan are they really?"

"Gone? Yes they are. From my orders." Hiruzen said sadly. Naruto looked upwards in shock. Hiruzen smiled sadly as he said "Itachi told me what happened. You needn't worry. Though I would keep that sharingan hidden if I were you."

Naruto nodded as he took an empty headband and wrapped it around his shraingan eye like Kakashi.

Hiruzen looked at Naruto sadly as he said "I never wanted you to grow up so quickly…..If only I…."

"There's no need to blame yourself jiji…The Uchiha clan should have tried to gain the people's trust instead of resorting to a coup. It was their own fault that they did not accept your peace talks…" Naruto said as he slowly dismissed himself from the hospital room.

Hiruzen smiled sadly as he thought " _He looks so much like you Kushina-chan….yet he is so much like you Minato-kun. Whatever it is…..you two would be proud of your son. He has grown up to be a fine young man."_

END OF CHAPTER

I HAVE BAD NEWS AND GOOD NEWS. LEGEND OF WIND WAS MERELY MY EXPERIMENT FOR THIS FANFICTION OF MINE SEEING HOW DIFFERENT AREAS OF PLOTS WOULD WORK. I WILL NORMALLY BE UPDATING THIS ONCE PER WEEK UNLESS I HAVE WEEKDAY HOLIDAYS SO YOU EXPECT AN UPDATE THAT DAY AS WELL. NOW PLEASE REVIEW! FLAMES ACCEPTED!


	2. Mizu no Kuni Part 1

Naruto Fanfic: The Crimson Flash

 **Chapter 2: Mizu no Kuni part 1**

 _2 years later_

Sarutobi Hiruzen took a huge puff of smoke from his pipe as he looked outside towards Konoha from his tower. By the exterior look and feel, not much had changed in the hidden village in the last two years, however the Sandaime Hokage knew that a lot had changed. The Uchiha Massacre had been a diplomatic and military disaster for Konoha. No matter how much Danzo exclaimed that the Uchiha Massacre was a victory for the village, Koharu, Homura and he, himself knew that the otherwise was the truth.

The Sandaime sighed as he thought about what had transpired after the massacre. Suna had sent a formal letter of condolence. Kiri had sent a few words of delight at the end of a bloodline clan. Iwa and Kumo were neutral. Whilst they loved their bloodlines and held them dear to their hearts, they knew that the Uchiha clan massacre would deal a blow to the Konoha Shinobi Corps. The civilians had been outraged at the end of a prestigious clan. Riots had ensued for weeks after the massacre to kill Itachi. The various Shinobi clans all differed in their response to the massacre. Old enemies of the Uchiha clan such as the Kurama clan, Hyuga clan had sneered at the massacre whilst other clans such as Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi had sent messages of condolences throughout the village.

On the personal level, Hiruzen knew that Itachi had surrendered himself to a half-life full of misery and torment, all just for his village. Hiruzen felt proud that Itachi bore such a great and passionate Will of Fire within him, however he mourned for the life he would lead. Little Sasuke Uchiha who was once the smiling face of the Uchiha clan had become so cold and held so much anger within him. Hiruzen knew that one day that anger would not continue to be bottled up and would explode on their faces, but for now there was nothing he could do. However, the two most affected by the massacre were Uzumaki Naruto and Hatake Kakashi. Kakashi had seen himself a potential to become a teacher like his sensei before him and had taught Itachi many tricks, and techniques. Seeing his techniques being used for such a horrendous act had left Kakashi guilt ridden. While Kakashi was scorned by the majority of the Uchiha clan because of his sharingan, Kushina had best of friends with Uchiha Mikoto, who was also the favorite older sister of Obito and through Kushina had developed a good relationship with Uchiha Mikoto. Her death also hit Kakashi deeply. His already huge wound from the deaths of Obito, Rin, Minato, Kushina were now made deeper by the massacre and the death of Mikoto and 'defection' of Itachi.

Naruto…Now Naruto was a whole another case. He had held Itachi and Shishui, especially Shishui, with such high regard and knew that till Shishui's last breath, he had been a hero of Konoha. He strove to become like him. Within three months of the massacre, Naruto had graduated from the academy, much to the disgust of the civilians and some shinobi at the prospect of the 'kyuubi child' being a prodigy. However unlike most genins, who would go to a Jonin sensei and team, Naruto's talents had been picked up by Ryu, the Anbu Commander. Ryu had demanded that Naruto be handed over to ANBU, and while Hiruzen had not wished for Naruto to joined ANBU; the horrors that the ANBU went through was well known; the boy himself wished to join ANBU and there was nothing Hiruzen could do to stop him from joining the ANBU. Ryu and after much convincing, Inu(Kakashi) had trained Naruto who had adopted the ANBU mask Kitsune and after about a year, Naruto started to take B-rank missions and the occasional A-rank.

Hiruzen let a large tendril of air escape his nasal cavity as he set his pipe down on his desk and turned back towards the paperwork. Like all Kage he found paperwork to be one of the most hated parts of being a Kage, however it was an important part of the job, and that meant that he could not just overlook the important papers.

However one particular report from a spy from Mizu no Kuni caught his eye.

X.X.X

Kitsune sat still in the Anbu headquarters lounge as he read through a tourism magazine about Hi no Kuni. The other anbu members simply walked past him or sat down on the main couch without giving him a side glance. To be fair, this was exactly as Naruto liked it, however the occasional conversation might have been a nice relieve. It had been a week since he and his team had returned after a B-rank mission in Akuma no Kuni (Land of Demons). The team had been given a week off after the mission. Speaking about his team he could see that all of them were currently at their home and either relaxing or socializing.

Hayate (Okami) was probably with Yugao (Neko). Tenzo (Kuma) was probably relaxing in his home and Hana (Haundo) was probably in her clan compound with her family. Kakashi (Inu) was probably with Asuma, Gai and Kurenai. Naruto was about to get up when another anbu simply appeared in front of him and handed him a scroll before disappearing again. This was common practice within the anbu. The commander would simply order another anbu to give a scroll to a designated team. Naruto shook his head to regain his bearings before opening the small scroll.

 _Kitsune, your team, Team 50 has been called by the Hokage, Report to him sharply within 20 minutes. Your team Captain Inu will explain the new mission parameters to you alongside the Hokage._

 _-Ryu._

Naruto rubbed his eyes as he read the scroll. Well, a new mission was a new mission. His hand drifted towards his belt where his mask lay. He took it and looked at it. A kitsune, a fox…he chuckled. Well considering he was the Jinchuriki of the Kyubi no Yoko, was it a surprise that he took the mask of the fox when he joined anbu? He quickly lifted his headband up to reveal his hidden left eye with the sharingan tomoes swirling briefly, he adorned the mask. He checked himself.

" _15 Kunai. Check. 25 shuriken. Check. 1 chokuto. Check. 100 meters of chakra wire. Check. Anbu gear. Check. Well lets go then."_ With that Naruto used the body flicker to go to the Hokage Tower.

Within a minute was kneeling before the Hokage, or Jiji as he called him in private alongside the other members of his team. Inu was the only one standing upright. The Hokage eyed them all once before speaking up. "Stand."

The four anbu operatives on the floor immediately stood upright as they looked at the attentively. The Sandaime stood up as he took out a file with the Seal of Tridents. The Seal of Tridents was the seal used on the most classified and secret documents of Konoha. If a file bearing the Seal of Tridents was required for this mission, then it was highly likely that this mission would not be an ordinary one. Well, at least ordinary by the standards of the ANBU.

The Sandaime immediately gave the file to Kuma and looked at the team once more. "This mission that is going to be assigned to you 5 is an S-rank mission and thus should be gone through with care and proper thinking."

Naruto could hear the inhaled air from his teammates. He couldn't blame them. This was going to be their team's first S-rank mission, and in the ANBU it was considered to be some kind of hallmark. Hiruzen looked over to the ANBU once more before speaking. "One of the spies planted in Mizu no Kuni was Hira Ishi, who would later on become the head Healer of the Kiri Healer Corps after the end of the Third Great Shinobi War. Apparently last month he conducted a health examine of the Yondaime Mizukage Yagura. The results were…interesting to say the least."

"It seems that the Yondaime Mizukage has been under a very strong genjutsu for the past 5 to 6 years during which not one health examination was taken according to Ishi. Ishi has reason to believe that the Kiri Civil War that the Yagura began is because of this genjutsu and not his own free will." Hiruzen said as he took a puff of smoke.

While the anbu gave no outward reaction, all of them were shaking with disbelief in the inside. Naruto himself was shaking with disbelief. Yagura of the Sanbi, believed to be the strongest Mizukage after the Shodai Mizukage, was under a genjutsu all along? And this genjutsu was the one which had instigated the Kiri Civil War to eliminate all bloodline clans living in Mizu no Kuni? Who could have been the one to control the genjutsu?

Hiruzen himself was very troubled by the news he received through the report. He knew that on the battlefield, Yagura could push him to his extreme even if he were in his prime. Yagura was already very dangerous when not using his bijuu's powers. He held a multitude of Suiton ninjutsu under his belt and used a crafty style of employing genjutsu alongside his suiton and staff. With his bijuu, he was undoubtedly one of the strongest ninja on the planet. To have omeone such as Yagura under a genjutsu….the thought was terrifying.

"The civil war in Kiri has affected Hi no Kuni badly. Refugees flood in. The result of sea battles come up onto our shores and our trade efficiency to the east across the ocean has been reduced because of going around the short route through Mizu no Kuni which adds about 25 days of travel to the merchant ships. Their navy has also come very close to breaching our waters. This overall has caused a Refugee, Economic and Trade Crisis that cannot be allowed to stand. Is that understood?" He continued speaking after he saw the anbu operatives nod. "Your objectives in this mission is pretty straightforward. Infiltrate Kiri. Meet up with Ishi and the Rebel faction. Then infiltrate the Mizukage Mansion and free Yagura of the genjutsu. After that the mission can have various diverging paths. Should he stop the war, we can be able to create and foster a new bright era of friendship between our villages and save the bloodline clans of Mizu no Kuni. Or….well, if he doesn't do that, then your mission will be to extract the Sanbi into something else, then assassinate him and install the leader of the Rebel faction onto the seat of the Mizukage."

The anbu operatives nodded once more. Hiruzen sighed as he pinched his eyebrows before saying "You have one hour before your team leaves."

With that the six man team disappeared into the wind.

X.X.X

For the past three days Team 50 had been travelling through Hi no Kuni. They were headed towards the east coast. Or in particular, the city of Faiapoto, a major port city in the eastern coast of Hi no Kuni and also one of the major bases of His Hokage's Royal Navy (HHRN). The mission was a S-rank mission and the adrenaline was present in all of them, even within Kuma and Inu, who had taken multitudes of S-rank missions before. After a few minites the city of Faiapoto finally came into view. Inu looked at his team and gestured the military port. His team nodded. They all disappeared and reappeared in front of the military dockyard as the Konoha ninja stationed there immediately stopped them.

"What is your purpose here?"

Inu simply handed him a scroll. The ninja quickly opened the scroll and skimmed through the scroll. The ninja hummed and nodded as he kept the scroll in his pocket and looked at the team. "Very well, you six need transport into Mizu no Kuni as order by Hokage-sama. It would be pretty bad for diplomatic relations if a Konoha warship entered Kiri waters, so the best bet would be to send you in via civilian ships. However because of the war, ships come in, not go out. You would have to go through the Refugee Inc. ships. I will arrange them to take you. The next ship leaves in approximately two hours. Meet me here then."

Inu nodded as he looked at his team and said "We will go over the mission once again and plan. These two hours must be our planning time, because once we are inside Mizu no Kuni we will get no luxury of free time."

The ninja nodded as he ushered them inside the building. He promptly left to arrange their presence on the ship. Inu quickly took out a map of Mizu no Kuni and laid it on the table. Some border shores like that of the shores of kaminari no kuni and Hi no kuni were shown in the map as well. Inu pointed at the small dot that represented Faiapoto. "We are over here. The ship voyage that we will enter in two hours according to that man is heading towards the main isle of Mizu no Kuni, Oki. It will dock at the capital of Mizu no Kuni, Miyako. The voyage will last for approximately about 11 hours. From Miyako, Kirigakure is two days on shinobi footing. From there we will do as Hokage-sama ordered us."

"Fine. However the island will be sprawling with Kiri ninja and rebel faction shinobi. What do we do about them?" Neko asked as she pushed her purple hair out of her mask. Inu looked at Kuma who nodded. "We will use restraining force at first however if it becomes necessary we will use fatal force on the Kiri ninja. We will however use simple restraining force if rebel shinobi attack us, because we are technically allied to them at the moment."

Neko nodded as she received her answer. Haundo shifted in her seat as she asked "How are we to enter the village? Because of the civil war, Kiri ANBU will be at high alert at all times."

Kuma nodded at the question. "A valid question. Ishi will meet up with us at the village of Soba which is two hours away from Kirigakure. He will be our ticket into Kirigakure no Sato."

"Very well. That leaves the Mizugakure Mansion. We cannot rule out the possibility of the one casting the genjutsu to not be there. If it comes to it, there will be a battle, which will draw in the Kiri shinobi. What are we going to do about such a possible scenario?" Okami asked while twirling a kunai in his hand.

"The possibility, like you said is high." Inu nodded. "We will also meet the rebel faction head in Sabo. We will organize an assault of the village with a signal if such a scenario arises."

"How are we to break the genjutsu? If what we know is true, well this genjutsu was able to subjugate a kage who is known to be strong against genjutsu. We already know its going to be one hard genjutsu to crack." Naruto voiced up.

Inu looked at him and nodded again. "Indeed. To break the genjutsu, it is highly probable that we will have to use our….. _eye talents_ shall we say Kitsune."

Naruto nodded as his left eye twitched slightly. Even after two years, the eye that had been given to him by Shishui seemed like a dream to him. He hadn't used the eyes for real combat in a long time. There had been some a-rank missions in which he had to use the eye, however a subtle genjutsu made the sharingan eye look like his normal eye, so the truth of his eye had never got out to anyone except his team, the Hokage and Dr. Yakushi at the hospital. He sighed as he placed his hands back on his lap leaping over the thoughts of either Shishui or his shraingan eye.

Yugao craned her neck slightly as she saw the shinobi who left them in the building come towards them. The shinobi entered the room they were residing in and said "Well, it seems you are in luck. A ship sails for Miyako in exactly ten minutes. Chop, chop, its time to go and complete a mission."

X.X.X

 _2 days later_

Team 50 of the Konoha ANBU were currently sitting in a table in a pub in the village of Sabo, waiting for their spy to come in with the head of the rebel faction of the Kiri Civil War. All of the Konoha ANBU in their civilian disguises sat stiffly. This was a problem of spies universally. You could never tell if they were _truly_ on your side and there was a possibility that Ishi would bring down the full wrath of the Mizukage down upon them.

However their fears seemed without cause as a middle-aged person with brown hair, dark black eyes and a slight lean posture came upto them and sat down on one of the chairs surrounding their table. They all sat quietly as soon a woman in her mid-twenties with auburn red hair and green eyes strode in alongside a swordsman with a zanbatou slung across his back and a feminine looking boy wearing a kimono. All three sat down on the remaining three chairs surrounding their table. Inu spoke first. "So, it seems that you upheld the vow, Ishi."

"I did, ANBU-san." Ishi replied curtly as his eyes swept from each anbu to the other. The auburn haired woman spoke up next. "I am Terumi Mei, the clan leader of the Terumi Clan and also the leader of the Rebel Faction of the Kirigakure Civil War. The swordsman beside me is Momochi Zabuza, and the boy next to him his Yuki Haku. They are two of my 4 most trusted confidants."

"Two of your four? Where are the other two?" Neko asked curiously.

"At the frontlines." Mei replied succinctly.

"Well, as much as this cold atmosphere is somewhat amusing, we must now start planning. Ishi, what is your plan on sneaking us into Kirigakure?" Inu asked lightly as he twirled with a senbon in his hand.

Ishi coughed to clear his throat before answering the question. "Well, during the founding era of Kirigakure, a multitude of underground tunnels were madeto make flood water pass harmlessly under the village. However, since then, the tide of the ocean and the sea has changed and floods come into the tunnels maybe once or twice a decade, causing the tunnels to be unguarded and unsupervised. From there I can lead you into the heart of the village."

Inu raised an eyebrow. "The tunnels connect into Kirigakure?"

"Yes. There are some viaducts and tunnels that connect into Kiri." Ishi replied shortly.

Inu nodded before looking at Mei. "There is a very probable scenario that open hostilities will begin in our mission and we need the help of the rebel faction. I ask of you to stage an assault on some parts of the village to distract the shinobi."

Mei nodded as she looked at Zabuza. Zabuza nodded as he asked "What is the signal that you are going to use on such a scenario?"

"A cawing a few hundred crows." Kakashi replied tersely as he looked at the official missing-nin. Zabuza nodded as he motioned Haku who nodded back in return and disappeared. "She has simply gone to ready our forces."

Ishi sighed as he stood up and said "Well that concludes this small meeting of ours. Zabuza-san, Mei-san you can return to your base and start readying up the assault. Now I believe it is my duty to lead you into the heart of Kirigakure no Sato."

X.X.X

Soon they were normal civilians walking down the main lane in Kirigakure no Sato. Team 50 looked distinctly like normal civilians of Mizu no Kuni and not one civilian bat their eyelids at them. However what they needed to be careful was of the shinobi. All of the ANBU were ruthlessly suppressing their chakra so that they could appear like that of a civilian if a sensor ninja picked them up. Ishi had long ago left them and had gone back to Kiri hospital so that his disappearance would not look suspicious (he had been absent for a long period of time).

After a few minutes they stopped.

They were right in front of the Mansion of Water, the abode of the Mizukage.

END OF CHAPTER


End file.
